Brain health is linked to the heart. If you're significantly overweight, he explains, it strains your heart and slows circulation in your body and brain.

Another action is to volunteer for a clinical trial. Trials are chronically short of test subjects – both people with Alzheimer's and without.

Nationally, the association (trialmatch.alz.org) has matched more than 8,500 people to clinical trials since July 2010. Of those, 513 have been from Orange County.

“If we don't do better at getting people into clinical trials, we're gonna have a big problem,” McAleer says.

This fall, purple-wearing armies will walk to “end Alzheimer's.” Part of funds they raise will go toward research.

The association, the world's largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer's research, has spent more than $300 million on research. One clinical trial, lasting four to 12 years, can cost $125 million.

One project underway is to create a collaborative research repository where scientists will share global Alzheimer's disease research data.

“That gives me a great deal of hope,” McAleer says. “It will have a massive amount of content.”

Significant research is done in Orange County.

Last year the Alzheimer's Association supported local research with $330,000 in grants. This year, a two-year grant for $99,998 was awarded to The Institute for Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, where researchers want to create a blood test for Alzheimer's.

“The fact that I hadn't heard of them …,” McAleer says, “I was really stoked.”

Although we haven't been able to cure Alzheimer's or reverse its damage, McAleer doesn't see that as defeat.

“People have simply acknowledged that it's more complex than we thought,” he says. “We need to look at the entire process. Once the damage is done, it's too late.”

The research focus has shifted to preventing the disease or delaying its progress.

Lately Alzheimer's has received more federal funding, but McAleer believes it deserves more. He predicts the costs of Alzheimer's care will cripple Medicare.

“When you look at the cost to manage the disease versus what even delaying onset by two to five years will save us, we're being very short-sighted,” he said.

“When we think about the amount of funding that's going into other disabling conditions, it's not even close.”

Of course, Alzheimer's claims the undivided attention of patients and their families.

Educating and helping them is where the association puts most of its resources. Locally, the Orange County chapter serves about 26 percent of the 83,000 families affected by Alzheimer's. Free services include a 24/7 helpline, support groups and classes for caregivers and families (alz.org/oc/).

“I want to make sure people know to call us,” McAleer said. “We can't help them get over what they are going to go through. It's a horrible process, … but we can be there as they go through the process.”

As you age, you begin to think about the future like a lightning strike: wondering if and when trouble will hit.

McAleer advises to look for changes over time: “If you were forgetting the car keys at 22, then you're just forgetful.”

If you're concerned about your memory, trust your instincts.

“If you think you have a memory issue, you probably do. There's a reason you worry.”

Call the association for a referral to a specialist.

Early diagnosis helps families cope. It offers an opportunity to get support systems in place and for patients to share their wishes while they can.

Here's the point: Research is at the molecular level, but Alzheimer's hits at the human level. That's why McAleer meets monthly with 10 families.

“I don't know how to do this job if it isn't about names and faces and real life,” he says.

The local chapter focuses about 15 percent on research, but McAleer sees that increasing.

“It's likely to increase because families are telling us this is important to them. … This has been so horrible for me, I don't want anybody else to get it.”

Hope is in short supply, but help is not.

“This is not a depressing job,” McAleer adds. “I don't know why that is, but there is so much joy in this office.”